ShoreTel CEO Set To Retire

ShoreTel President and CEO Peter Blackmore has revealed plans to retire, with a search for his successor already under way, according to the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company.

Blackmore has been CEO of ShoreTel since December 2010 and will officially step down from the role when his successor is named, ShoreTel said.

"It has been a privilege to work with the ShoreTel team," Blackmore said in a statement. "I am confident that the company is well-positioned in both the cloud and premise unified communications markets. With recent changes to our organizational and cost structure, we can now scale with a model positioned for profitability, enhancing our objective of delivering improved shareholder value."

ShoreTel noted that its revenue has nearly doubled -- growing from $44.3 million in the first quarter of 2011 to $78.3 million in the third quarter of 2013 -- under Blackmore's leadership. ShoreTel also attributed its push into the cloud-based communications market to Blackmore, who oversaw ShoreTel's $146 million acquisition of hosted UC vendor M5 Networks, which now makes up ShoreTel's dedicated Cloud Division.

Prior to his role at ShoreTel, Blackmore was president, CEO and a director at UTStarcom. Before that, he was an executive vice president of worldwide sales, marketing and technology at integrator Unisys, and he held several senior management positions at Compaq. When HP acquired Compaq in 2002, Blackmore served as executive vice president of HP's Enterprise Systems Group, and then its Customer Solutions Group.

ShoreTel board Chairman Chuck Kissner said ShoreTel is "grateful" Blackmore will remain in his role until a new CEO is found, and that business at ShoreTel will not be interrupted during the search.

"We intend to keep moving full speed ahead with our near-term plans to launch new innovative products and services and to continue to execute on our combined premise and cloud strategy," Kissner said in a statement.

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